Europe has begun buying American weapons for Ukraine in earnest, only weeks after President Trump struck a deal with NATO allies to do so.
The latest sale, announced by the State Department on Thursday, will send 3,500 extended-range cruise missiles and GPS navigation kits to Ukraine once Congress formally approves it, as expected. They cost $825 million, paid for by Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway, with some unspecified financial assistance from the Pentagon.
The missiles can be fired from fighter jets, and have a similar range to the Storm Shadow and Scalp missiles that Ukraine has used to strike Crimea and into Russia.
The sale marks one of the first purchases by European countries on behalf of Ukraine since Mr. Trump and other NATO leaders reached the deal earlier this summer.
“It’s not a game changer for Ukraine Air Force, but it might signal that there’s a productive conversation between Europeans and the Trump administration, in terms of future supply of modern equipment to Ukraine,” said Rafael Loss, a defense and security expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
Last month, President Trump said European allies had agreed to buy American-made weapons for Ukraine under a deal clinched with the NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte. That was a break from the Biden administration’s approach, which had provided tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons directly to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022.
Not only is the new deal poised to bring a financial windfall for American weapons producers, it will also shield Mr. Trump — who has expressed skepticism of devoting U.S. military support to Ukraine — from accusations of direct involvement in the war.
Mr. Trump has sought to broker a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, but his effort has largely stalled since his high-profile meetings this month with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in Alaska and, days later, with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and European leaders in Washington.
Steve Witkoff, who serves as Mr. Trump’s special envoy to Russia, was set to meet with senior Ukrainian officials in New York on Friday to discuss a way forward.
Russia has continued to pound Ukraine with airstrikes, including a barrage on Thursday that killed at least 23 people in Kyiv, the capital, including four children. The U.N. Security Council was expected to meet Friday to discuss the attacks.
Earlier this month, the Netherlands pledged to pay for an initial $500 million package of American equipment and munitions that Ukraine said it urgently needed. The next day, Denmark, Norway and Sweden said they would fund another $500 million package of U.S.-made materiel for Ukraine.
It was not clear if the cruise missiles that were announced this week were part of either package. The missiles can be fired from the F-16 fighter jets that Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway are giving to Ukraine. Belgium is also poised to send a first shipment of the fighter jets soon.
Germany also recently pledged a big donation to Ukraine: two more Patriot air defense systems that fire missiles to intercept incoming projectiles. As part of the deal with Mr. Trump, Germany will receive priority to buy new Patriots from the United States. The systems cost about $1 billion each and can take years to build.
Ukraine is buying some military aid directly from the United States. The purchases include more than $200 million in equipment and support for howitzer guns and transportation services this month, and about $322 million in parts for Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles and Hawk surface-to-air missile systems in July.
Lara Jakes, a Times reporter based in Rome, reports on conflict and diplomacy, with a focus on weapons and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. She has been a journalist for more than 30 years.
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